Jerry Brown, Meg Whitman debate. & the winner is…

Meg Whitman. She went deeper than her usual talking points. She showed some humor and drew a little blood. She put the focus on job creation and seemed more clear on her mission to cut the state budget.

She talked up the Silicon Valley approach of going around problems, versus the Sacramento habit of doing the same dysfunctional budgeting over and over again.

Rich Pedroncelli, AP

Whitman has climbed the learning curve since this first debate

Jerry Brown‘s problem was that while he argued that he would be a fiscal conservative, he also said President Obama has been doing a good job and praised the Obama stimulus program. He blamed the stock market for Sacramento’s money woes. He hasn’t won, but already he’s moving to the center.

And he gave a disingenuous politician’s non-apology to Whitman for his campaign’s use of the wh-word.

During the first half of the debate, moderator Tom Brokaw told Brown, “You have said that the process is the plan.” And Brown did say that.